Process of producing metallic alloys.



- M. A. REBERT. PROCESS OF PRODUCING METALLIC ALLOYS. APPLICATION FILEDAPR. 8. WM. RENEWED MAY 23, ms.

1,215,857, Patented Feb.13,1917.

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MICHAEL A. REBER'I, YORK. PENNSYLVANIA.

PROCESS OF PRODUCING METALLIC ALLOYS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MICHAEL A. REBERT, a citizen of the United States,and residing at York, in the county of York and State of Pennsylvania,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes ofProducing Metallic Alloys; and I do hereby declare the following to'be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

This invention relates to the process of obtaining nickel and othermetals from various ores and compounds of said metals with silicon, andespecially from nickeliferous ores containingsilicon in the form ofsilicates such as garnierite, a hydrous nickel magnesium silicateusually expressed by the formula'H,MgNiSiO,, and it has for its objectto produce a method of such a character 4 that it will be more efficientand less vcostly than the procedures now in common use.

To these ends the invention consists in the novel steps constituting myprocess and involving a molten bath or electrolyte more fullyhereinafter disclosed and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In carrying outmy process, I take advantage of the well known aflinityof fluorin for metals, especially silicon to separate the nickel fromthe silicon with which it is combined, and in order to readily producethe free fluorin and cause the same to act efficiently on thenickeliferous compound, I liberate the said fluorin in a moltenelectrolyte formed in an electric furnace, all as will now be disclosed.

Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a part of thisspecification, the figure illustrates a diagrammatic viewpf a fur- .nacesuitable for carrying out my process.

1 indicates any suitable source of current, 2 the anode which may bemade of graphite, and 3 any suitable cathode which is also convenientlymade of graphite, 4 is the furnace body made of any suitable well knownmaterial, and 5 is the outer shell of said body preferably made ofmetal, and providing a heat insulating space'fibetween the same and-theportion 4. 7 is an outlet for the nickel or other metal obtained by myprocess, 8 is a trough or. other receptacle for receiving the same, 9 isan outlet for the slag and 10 is a suitable conveyer fortheSpecification of Letters Patent,

Application filed April 8, 1914, Serial No. 830,526. Renewed May 23,1916. Serial No. 99,439.

troduced into the furnace through any suitable means, as for example thechute 12, and

,the furnace is preferably provided with a Calcium fluorid Cal is firstput into the furnace and brought to a molten condition by placingthe'electrode 2 sufliciently close Y to the electrode 3 to strike anare, or to otherwise melt the said calcium fluorid and then thenickeliferous garnierite, such as H MgNiSiO or other ore to beoperatedupon, is gradually'added through the chute 12, when it likewiseis melted and mixed with the molten calcium fluorid.

The continued passage of the current libcrates the fiuorin from thecalcium ,fluorid and thereby brings about a reaction between the siliconof the ore and said fluorin, whereupon the nickel is liberated. Thefluorinbeing liberated in the presence of molten and other hot orereadily attacks the silicon of said ore and thereby exerts a strongreducing action. This action isfacilitated by the fact that the fluorinliberated at the anode is carried by the boiling action of the moltenbath into and through the same and therefore it readily permeates themass immediately surrounding said anode. 7,

If the ore is carefully fed into the furnace and the calcium fluorid isalso constantly renewed a substantially pure metal, nickel pig in thisinstance, or an alloy can be readily withdrawn from the spout 7 In orderto make a ferro-nickel by this process it is only necessary 'to addiron, iron ore or a nickel ore high in iron, to the bath ofsubstantially pure metal, when in the case of the addition of ironalone, the liberated nickel will readily alloy with the same; or in thecase of the addition of iron ore to the nickel compound the said orewill be readily reduced and the nickel will alloy with the reduced iron,while in the case of employing a nickel ore high in iron, there isusually sufiicient iron to produce a ferronickel alloy direct from theore.

The calcium and other impurities in the ore, of course, will form a slagwhich will float upon the molten bath '(of metal) and may be drawn offthrough the spout 9. same. -The charge material 11 may be in- Instead ofcalcium fiuorid, of course, I

may use other fluorids such as sodium fluorid NaF and potassium fluoridKF which would produce a more fluid flux, but I prefer calciumfluoridon. account of its cheapness.

It will be observed that my process in fact, owing to the strongaflinity of fluorin for silicon, results in the removal of the siliconfrom the metal instead of the metal from the silicon. And it willfurther be observed that owing to the permeation of the mass by thefluorin liberated at the I electrodes there is a constant removal of thesilicon to form a slag which floats on top of the molten bath (of metal)while there is likewise a constant flow of the heavy material down intothe region where the reactions are going on.

:the true explanation may be,

An alternating current also gives good results, owing possibly ,to thefact that the decomposing ore' supplies rapidly-changing secondaryelectrodes in the bath, on which the ions may be deposited and whichchange so rapidly that said ions'are not re-composed when this currentis reversed. Whatever produced both the. metallic nickel and ferronickelby the above process with the alter-' natingcurrent.

What I claimiss- 1. The steps in the process of producing metallicalloys which consist in subjecting a compound containing fluorin to atemperature suflicient to melt said compound, and to the action of anelectric current to free its'fluorin; in adding a compound containingthe metal to be alloyed to said molten compound and thereby causing saidfluorin Ihave actually to free said metal from its combination; and inpermitting the metal thus freed to form a bath suitable for alloyingsaid metal with another metal, substantially as described.

2. The process of producing a metallic alloy which consists insubjecting a compound containing fluorin to a temperature suflicient tomelt said compound, and to the action of an electric current to free thefluorin; in adding a compound containing one of the constituents of saidalloy to said thereby causing the freed fluorin to act upon said nickelcompound to' free the nickel,

and in causing-the nickel-thusobtained to come in contact with molteniron, substan- 'tially as described.

4. The process of producing a ferro-nickel alloy which consists in subecting fluorid ofcalcium and nickeliferous ore containing iron to atemperature suflicient to melt the fluorid and to the action of anelectric current to free the fluorin thereby causing the iron and nickeltobe reduced and later to become alloyed, substantially as described.

' In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

l MIQHAELA. REl3ERT.

